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I was excited about the First ever Hyderabad hat, I signed up as soon as registrations opened and booked my tickets before informing my folks at home. Closer to the dates however I found a very suspicious looking e-mail in my inbox. Captain? Me? No way, Jose! I didn’t opt for it! Follow cue phone call. (Note: Manix has a way with words. He will convince you, unless you sing loudly and walk away in the opposite direction)
I was directly responsible for the experience and outcome of the 11 others on my team. Half the people on that list I didn’t know, the other half I knew by name. They expect me to fulfill a duty, meet the expectations of organisers and uphold the aim of the tournament ( i .e equal playing time and gender equity). I literally tossed and turned that night, ask my roomies! I didn’t like being responsible for myself, let alone a team.
What can I contribute as a captain? Did I have anything at all? What would I expect from my Captain? Who is a Captain? Were some of the questions in my head. I was getting a clean slate. Still undecided whether I liked the responsibility or not, I thought about the previous captains I had played under. The qualities that I liked in them was my something old and borrowed. My something new was just setting in. All I missed was something blue to pronounce myself wedded as the team’s captain (funnily enough, we got to be the team with the blue jersey).
I got to the field early the next day with a bunch of others, I wanted to do what I did best, to help me settle down. I threw around for nearly an hour waiting for my co-captains and the rest of the team. I reassuringly reasoned that we all probably wanted the same thing. I wanted to play how many ever possible awesome games, they probably wanted the same. I wanted the disc, I wanted to learn. Rest of my teammates probably wanted that too, seems simple enough, right?
We had a quick round of introductions split into two lines with equal handlers and cutters. The deal was to switch every two points, and off we went.
Our first game against the Golden Yellow Pappupodi was a mess. I watched all my teammates make a beeline for the disc, i think i even got stalled out just watching that. We struggled to retain possession. The rest is a long narration, we lost two of our round robin games and we met one of those teams in the finals.
My only peeve is that we didn’t do anything to get the other finalist out of their comfort zone. We spent too much time on offense. We did everything right, except score. We played a point with 47 odd swings/passes in response to their Zone D.
The final score of 7 – 1 doesn’t reflect the possession or quality of play. I remember asking my teammates during halftime if they were having a good time. I saw smiles and no frustrated faces, even though absolutely nothing was clicking for us. ( We missed a couple of our teammates due to injury, even though we had a couple of awesome people filling their spots) Everybody wanted some more, even if that more was getting kicked in the rear. I might have had exceptionally awesome teammates but it felt like a team effort . =)
It’s easy to pass this off as a HAT tournament effect, I strongly feel that if any team could play with that undeniable, relentless spirit of wanting to play, then winning a game/ tournament will only be added benefits to the making of a truly awesome and spirited team.
Lessons learned as a Captain:
- Do be an example
If you want your team to warm up, then you have to be there, ready to go, five minutes ahead.
- Do reason
No one likes to be commanded around. Watch your tone, watch your language. Clarify.
- Do apologize
People make mistakes, don’t sweep them under the rug of uncomfortable silence. Nothing wrong in apologizing, if you think you have offended someone or if they look uncomfortable.
- Do talk
Make sure the team stands for the same concepts and that everyone is on the same page. It also helps to talk to your teammates during the game and keep them wanting more.
- Do encourage immediate feedback
Be open to criticism, make sure everyone aires their thoughts. Sometimes it has to be demanded respectfully.Be ready to digest it, good or bad. I had a teammate tell us, I quote without permission, that we had ‘created a fearless learning environment’. I would have reacted better if he had just said, ‘you guys suck as captains’.
-Do Outsource
Encourage your teammates to take initiative, it could be as simple as holding on to the food coupons or running a drill . Get people to help you out. (Special mention to my AWESOME AWESOME Co- Captain and Spirit Captain! )
- Finally, Don’t take your captaincy for granted.
I know you’ve already been picked, keep giving us a reason to look up to you. Work for it, don’t get comfortable.
